WASHINGTON — A suspected migrant gang member tried to ram Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with his SUV in the Bronx Thursday before he was shot in self-defense by the feds, authorities insisted Friday.
The agents tried to use their vehicles to box in 28-year-old Oscar Belgal before arresting him in Marble Hill, according to Marcos Charles, the head of ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations division.
“He then accelerated his vehicle, smashing into two of our government ICE vehicles and then weaponized his vehicle and proceeded to accelerate, going towards other officers,” Charles narrated during a Friday news conference at the Department of Homeland Security headquarters.
Belgal, whose last name has also been spelled “Bengal” and “Begal,” came from the Dominican Republic to the US at an unspecified date and location, according to DHS, and has links to the Trinitarios gang.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch had said Thursday that the department’s Argus cameras captured Belgal in the driver’s seat of a gray Honda CR-V that was backing into a parking spot when a plainclothes federal officer approached the driver’s side window with his gun drawn.
Another plainclothes agent approached the driver’s side headlight when the vehicle began to move forward, out of the camera’s view, the commissioner added.
One of the officers fired at least seven rounds and hit Belgal in the neck below his left ear, Tisch noted.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed the ICE agents were wearing vest cameras and promised the footage will be made available as the investigation moves forward.
“Oscar chose to accelerate at a high rate of speed and ram two different vehicles” and appeared to be moving in the direction of the agents, Mullin said during Friday’s news conference.
“The public outcry should be also towards this criminal, this thug, this gangbanger, this possible murderer,” he fumed.
Belgal, who had previous charges in New York for grand larceny, theft and robbery and being armed with a deadly weapon, was wounded in the incident and was treated at a local hospital before being removed to federal custody.
Here’s the latest on the Bronx ICE shooting:
“Our officers, using their training — and believing that their life and the life of the partners and the general public were in danger — used their training and fired weapons,” Charles said. “Mr. Belgal was struck by one of the bullets or fragments, superficially in the neck. He stopped his vehicle. We arrested him, rendered first aid, and then took him to the hospital.”
Law enforcement sources told The Post Friday morning that Belgal remains in federal custody in New Jersey. That was due to Belgal’s “lengthy criminal history and known fleeing,” according to Charles.
The suspected gang member pleaded guilty to fourth-degree grand larceny after being charged in December 2023. Belgal was later sentenced to five years of probation for the crime in April 2025.
Mullin and Charles both affirmed that Belgal also had a pending detainer request from DHS lodged with local law enforcement — and the suspected gang member was already on probation for a past theft charge.
Belgal was also allegedly linked to the shooting of a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent in July 2025, DHS officials told reporters.
“He’s known,” Charles said of Belgal. “The gang that he runs with is known for thefts using weapons and mopeds.”
“We feel that there’s a good chance that he is directly or indirectly involved or has knowledge of this shooting,” Mullin said later in a Fox News interview.
DHS has issued 14,766 detainer requests to New York law enforcement offices since January 2025, when President Trump returned to the White House.
Of those detainers, the non-citizens sought for removal proceedings have racked up a collective 47,750 felony charges — 258 of which are for homicides.
New York officials have yet to respond to a single detainer, according to Mullin.
